Mechanism for feeding and covering containers



MECHANISM FOR FEEDING AND covERING CONTAINERS Fildoct. 31. 1958 A. W. ANDERSON Aug. 9, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 oooo. mw Rmx OOOGOOOOO mmxm SQ R.

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Aug. 9, 1960 A. W. ANDERSON MECHANISM FOR FEEDING AND COVERING CONTAINERS Filed OCt. 3l, 1,958

Aug. 9, 1960 A. w. ANDERSON MECHANISM FOR FEEDING AND COVERING CON'ILAINERS Filed Oct. 3l. 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. Na/fw//f/mwsa/v f ....mmmwmwmn Aug. 9, 1960 A. w. ANDERSON 2,948,096

MECHANISM FOR FEEDING AND COVERING CONTAINERS Filed OC'L. 5l, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. Hwa/Wsw /44 /vEHsU/v United States Patent O MECHANISM FOR FEEDING AND COVERING CONTAINERS Andrew W. Anderson, West Caldwell, NJ., assignoiI to Scandia Packaging Machinery Company, North Arhngton, N .J a corporation of New Jersey Filed Oct. 31, 1958, Ser. No. 771,086

6 Claims. (Cl. 53-287) This invention relates to wrapping machines and, more particularly, -to a machine for holding and feeding a container `and securing a flexible cover, such as metal foil, over the top yof an open, loaded container or receptacle.

At the present time, open receptacles or containers are 1filled or loaded with food and are then covered by a flexible sheet of material, such as metal foil. This operation as now carried out requires the service of several operatives who manually fold the foil around or beneath the edges of a container. This operation 1s complicated oy the fact that the material, such as food in the container, often projects above the edges of the container and, therefore, the cover takes an irregular shape, which makes it difficult to fold the edges of the cover above the container around the rim or upper edges of the container.

The foil should cover the food smoothly but should not be pulled so tight that the contents will puncture the covering foil. u

This invention has for its salient object to provide simple and practical means for feeding and holding the container and for feeding and securing a sheet of flexible material snugly over the loadedccntainer.

Another object of the invention is to provide means of the character described, so worked out and so controlled that a cover can be effectively secured in position'over 'containers having loads of varying heights.

Another object of the invention is to provide mechanism of the character described, so constructed that the container will be held down and prevented from tilting or moving out of position as it is fed through the container covering mechanism.

Further objects of the invention will appear from the following specification taken in connectio-n with the drawings which form a part of this application, and in which Fig. l is a side elevational view, partly broken away, showing the mechanism for feeding the containers and holding them in position, and the means for folding the forward end of the sheet of exible material around the forward rim orl edge of the container and, furthermore, showing, in side elevation, the mechanism for folding down the side edges of the flexible cover as the container and cover are fed;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation, on an enlarged scale, taken substantially on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, and showing the hold-down mechanism for holding the rear edge of the container in position as it is fed along the table;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view, partly broken away, of the means for holding the rear edge of the container downwardly as it is fed;

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view showing the sheet 2,948,096 Patented Aug. 9, 1960 ice 5 side edges of the container;

' Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional elevation taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the arrows, and` showing the meansfor folding 4the side edges of the cover downwardly;

Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional elevation, on an enlarged scale, taken substantially on line 7-7 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, and showing the means for folding the advance edge of the sheet of flexible material around and beneath the advance edge of the container;

Fig. 8 is a plan view, partly in section,` taken substantially on line 8 8 of Fig. 7, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional elevation of the container hold-down means, this view showing the operation of said means -to withdraw the holding means at the delivery end of the container feeding means; and

Figs. l0, ll and 12 are diagrammatic plan views showing three stages in the operation of the machine for placing and folding the cover over the container, these views being bottom plan views.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the containers or receptacles to be covered are fed along a table 20 by feeding means carried by a pair of chains 21 and 22 which are mounted on sprockets 23 and 24. The means for feeding the containers along the table consists of a plurality of pusher plates 25 which extend vertically and are carried by plates 26 mounted on upright plates 29 mounted on transverse spindles 27 and 28 connected to the chains 21 and 22. As the chains travel, the pusher plates 25 engage the rear edges of the containers and feed them 4along the table.

The spindles 27 and 28 also have mounted thereon arms 30 and 31, two arms being mounted on each spindle, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. These arms have pivoted thereon at the upper ends thereof at 33 and 34, hold-down arms 3.5. The spindles 27 have also secured thereto 'arms or lugs 36 which, as shown in Fig. 9, are engaged by lugs 37 or 38 on disks 39 and 40 carried by a spindle 41 on which the sprocket 24 is mounted. As the lugs 37 or '38 engage the arms or lugs 36, the arms 30 and 31 are moved in an anticlockwise direction against the tension of springs 42, viewing Fig. 9, from the position shown in the dotted lines of the hold-down position to the posifeeding means, the means for holding the advance edge i 66 thereon. The roller `66 tion shown in the full lines, thus withdrawing the front ends of the hold-down arms from engagement with the rear rim of the container. I

As the containers are fed by the pusher plates 2S along the table and are held against tilting by the hold-down arms, a sheet of flexible material, such as foil, Ias shown at S in Figs. l and 4, is fed into -the path of movement of the front edge of the containerby feed rolls 50 and 51, and the lower edge of the sheet is engaged by a plate or finger 52 mounted on an arm 53 pivoted on `a Ispindle 54 carried by the chains 21 and 22. As shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the spindles have at their outer ends rollers 55, 55 which rest on ledges S6, 56 carried by uprights 57 and 58 which support the table. Arms 60 are secured to the spindle 54 and are secured at their other ends to inwardly projecting pins 61, 61 carried by the chains 21 and 22.

I'lie arm 53 is engaged by a spring 62, the other end of the spring being xed at 6'3 to the spindle 54. The aim 53 is carried by a hub or sleeve 64, and this sleeve also has projecting therefrom an arm 65 having a roller c engages a cam track 70 which 1s disposed beneath the upper laps of the chains 21 and 22 and the arm 53 and finger or plate 52 are normally held in inoperative position until they move beneath the to operative position is limited by engagement of a pin 64' with a fixed stop pin '54 on spindle 54.

The table 20 is slotted vto permit the passage of the arm 51 and finger 52 when these parts are swung'upwardly 'and also to permit the passage of the arms 30 andr 3i and plates 29, as shown in Fig. 2.

When the containers are loaded as, Vfor instance, with food, this material often projects above the top of the container and when this Vis covered by the foil sheet the sheet is often wrinkled and it Vhas been found difficult to fold the projecting side edges of the sheet around the rims at the side of the container. v

In o-rder to facilitate the Afolding of the side edges of the sheet, means which will now be described has been developed to first fold the projecting side edges of the sheet downwardly before these edges go into the usual folding mechanism used to fold the edges' underneath the side rims.

Attention is particularly directed to Figs. l, 4, 5 and 6. In order to facilitate the description, `attention is directed first to Figs. l0, l1 and l2, which show in bottom plan the container with the cover positioned thereon. It will .be understood that the cover sheet is of sufficient dimension so that it projects substantially beyond the front, sides and rear rims ofthe container. In Fig. the projecti-ng portions are designated A, B, C and D and in this figure the portion A has been folded beneath the front rim of the container by the finger 52 in the manner shown in Fig. 4. The side portions B and C project laterally beyond the sides of the container and the rear portion D also projects rearwardly beyond the rear of the container.

After the front portion A has been folded, as shown in Fig. 4, the container advances and the cover sheet S is folded downwardly against the top of the container when the container passes beneath the roll 7 1. In front of the position shown in Fig. 4, there is mounted above the path of movement of the container, means for folding downwardly the projecting portions B `and C. This means consists of a pair of vertical blades or plates 75 and 76 which are mounted on pivots 77 and 7S carried by brackets 79 and 88 supported on the platform Ztl. The plates 75 and 76 have connected thereto, links `81 and 82. These links are pivoted at S3 and 84 to arms 85 and -86 carried by a shaft 87 which also has secured thereto a downwardly extending arm 88 having at the lower end thereof a roller 89 which is held in engagement with the cam 96 mounted on a shaft 91, by a spring 92.

The cam is so designed and the shaft 91 is so timed that the blades or plates 75 and '76 will be moved downwardly when one of the containers passes beneath the blades and by their movement the blades will fold the projecting edges B and C of the cover downwardly over the outer edges of the sides of the container. The lower position of the plates 75 :and 76 is shown in Fig. 5. When these side edges B and C of the cover are folded downwardly, they enter folding grooves 93 of the usual form, and as thel container is fed along, these folding grooves will fold the downwardly extending side edges of the cover beneath the side edges of the container to the position shown in Fig. ll.

The shaft 91 is driven from any suitable source of power by a chain 95 and the shaft 9d is also connected by a chain to drive the feed chains 2l and 22 which are carried `by sprockets 23 and 24.

. .During Vthefeedi'ng of 'the containers and the disposing of the exible coversheet thereover, the rear end of the coversheet .in '.the direction of movement will rest over rear end of the container. Thereafter, the container and. cover, with the cover folded as shown -in Fig. 1l, are fed at right angles to the direction of feed by the chains 21 and 22 in the manner shown in copending application Serial No. 689,218, tiled `October 9, 1957, now U.S. Patent No. 2,889,675. During this movement the final fold of the projecting portion D is' made. This mechanisin is not illustrated in the present application since it forms no part of the present invention.

The feeding and covering operations may be briefly. summarized as follows. The containers are placed in any suitable manner on the table 20 and are picked up by the pusher plates 25 and fed along the table, during which operation Athe rear edges of the containers are held down by the fingers' on the front end of the hold-down arms 35. The cover sheet S is fed downwardly into the path of movement of the containers and as the container reaches the position shown in Fig. 5 one ofthe fingers 52 will be moved upwardly through the table and will engage the lower end of the sheet and fold it around and beneath the front rim of the container, as shown at Ain Fig. l0.

, As the container advances on the table, the cover sheet will be folded downwardly over the top of the container as the container passes beneath the roller 71. When the container reaches the position beneath the folding blades 75 and 76, these blades will be moved downwardly by the earn action above described and will engage the laterally projecting portions B and C of the cover sheet, and these portions will be folded downwardly against the outer edges of the container. Thereafter, the container and cover sheet pass through suitable folding mechanism by means of which the downwardly extending portions B and C are folded around and beneath the side edges or rims of the container. The containers and covers theny pass to a second platform, not shown, and are fed at right angles to their former direction of movement, whereupon' the rearwardly projecting portions D of the cover are. folded beneath the rear edge of the container.

Although one specific embodiment of the invention has been particularly sho-wn and described it wili be understood that the invention is capable of modification and that changes in the construction and in the arrangement of the Various cooperating parts may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, as expressed in the foilowing claims.

What I claim isz.

1. in a machine for feeding and covering containers, a support, means for feeding containers along said support, means in conjunction with said feeding means for engaging and holding down the rear edges of said containers and means carried by said feeding means for folding one end of a xible covering sheet under the forward end of the container and holding said end in said position during the further feeding movement of the container.

2. in a machine for feeding and covering containers, a support, means for feeding containers along said support, means in conjunction `with said feeding means for engaging and holding down the rear edges of said containers, means at the delivery end of the support for releasing said hold-down means and means carried by said feeding means for folding one end of a flexible covering sheet under the forward end of the container and holding said end in said position during the further feeding movement of the container.

3. in a mach-ine for feeding and covering containers, a support, endless feeding means for feeding containers along said support, means for feeding a sheet of flexible covering material into the path of movement of the containers, and `means carried by and movable with said endless feeding means for engaging the lower end of a' sheet of iiexible covering material and folding said end under the forward end of a container and holding rsaid,

end in said position during the further feeding movement of the container.

4, In a machine for feeding and covering loaded containers, a support, endless feeding means, a plurality of members on said feeding means for pushing the containers on said Support, means in conjunction with said pusher members for holding down the rear ends of said containers during their feeding movement, means for feeding sheets of flexible covering material into the path of movement of said containers, and means mounted on said endless feeding means for engaging the lower end of each sheet and folding said end under the advance end of a container and holding said end in said position during the continued feeding movement of the containers.

5. In a machine for feeding and covering containers, a supporting table, means for feeding loaded containers along said table, means for positioning a sheet of exible material over the top of each container, said sheet being dimensioned to extend over the edges of the container, means carried by the container feeding means for folding the front edge of each sheet around and beneath the front edge of a container and for holding the folded edge in position during the further feeding movement, and inter- 6 mittently operating means for folding the lateral projecting edges of the sheet downwardly over the lateral edges of the container.

6. ln a machine for feeding and covering containers, a supporting table, means including endless feeding chains and a plurality of pusher members carried by said chains Y for feeding loaded containers along said table, means for positioning a sheet of flexible material over the top of each container, said sheet being dimensioned to extend over the edges of the container, means carried by said endless chains for folding the front edge of each sheet around and beneath the front edge of a container and for holding the folded edge in position during the further feeding movement, and intermittently operating means for folding the lateral projecting edges of the sheet downwardly over the lateral edges of the container.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,546,072 Kemp Mar. 20, 1951 2,554,095 Diezel May 22, 1951 2,584,925 Rideout Feb. 5, 1952 

